Benjamin Trott painted a miniature of George Washington based on Gilbert Stuart’s well-known portrait, which served as the model for this stipple engraving. Throughout the nineteenth century popular prints with Washington as the subject served to inspire patriotism in American citizens. The donor of this print, Simeon DeWitt Bloodgood (1800-1866) was one of the original members of the Albany Institute and private secretary to New York Governor DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828).

 

William Spohn Baker, The Engraved Portraits of Washington (1880), lists this print as number 235. He identifies it as being published in Abraham Rees's The Cyclopedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, first American edition, Philadelphia: Samuel F. Bradford and Murray, Fairman and Co., 1821.